


Miles of Skin

by mythicalmorgana



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Gay Panic, Gen, M/M, Massage, Pining, Unresolved Sexual Tension, just a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23880031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicalmorgana/pseuds/mythicalmorgana
Summary: “Gettingmassages andgivingmassages ain’t the same.” Rhett rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Really.” As if to accentuate his point, he stood up out of his office chair and turned in a circle, arms out.He struggled.Link could see the pain in his face as he got up, and the tension in his shoulders as he tried to ignore it. “Was that supposed to convince me that you’re okay?” He raised his eyebrows. “Come on, man, Iknowyou! I can see that you’re hurtin’. Let me at least try. I’ll be extra careful, and if you don’t feel better afterward I’ll buy you a 90-minute massage at my regular place.”Rhett cracked a smile, chuckling. “Is that, like, a wager?”
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal, sort of - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 58
Collections: Kinkuarantine 2020





	Miles of Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @apparentlynotreallyfinnish for beta-ing!

“I don’t know about this, man,” Rhett said, shaking his head. “You know I don’t like gettin’ massages unless I’m paying for it. And it’s a professional doin’ it.” 

“Dude, I had better be a professional by now, with how many massages I get,” Link replied. “You see my calendar! What is it, twice a month? Three times? It’s _all_ the time.” 

“ _Getting_ massages and _giving_ massages ain’t the same.” Rhett rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Really.” As if to accentuate his point, he stood up out of his office chair and turned in a circle, arms out. 

He struggled. 

Link could see the pain in his face as he got up, and the tension in his shoulders as he tried to ignore it. “Was that supposed to convince me that you’re okay?” He raised his eyebrows. “Come on, man, I _know_ you! I can see that you’re hurtin’. Let me at least try. I’ll be extra careful, and if you don’t feel better afterward I’ll buy you a 90-minute massage at my regular place.” 

Rhett cracked a smile, chuckling. “Is that, like, a wager?”

Link returned his grin. “It might be. Would you accept it if it was?” 

Rhett was quiet for several beats, searching his face and glancing several times at his hands as if deciding whether to trust him or not. Did he really have to think about it this much? Link didn’t mention it, though, waiting quietly, afraid that if he continued to push Rhett would back out. 

Finally, Rhett sighed. “I appreciate the offer, really. But I just don’t—”

“Do you really not trust me?” Link interrupted. “I’m your best friend! I _know_ you got back problems. I’ve been here for all of it. With you! And I know I’m kinda… not the most careful, sometimes. But do you think I’d risk hurting you?”

“It’s not that, man,” Rhett said, turning his back to Link and attempting to sit down. The pain made him groan and straighten back up. 

“Look at you! You can hardly function.” 

Rhett let out a frustrated huff. “It’s just—” He cut himself off, as if afraid to speak his mind. He rubbed a hand across his face. “It’s weird! Havin’ your friend touch you like that. And you know I’m not—” He stopped again, his face turning crimson.. 

Link raised his eyebrows. “Gay?” he finished for Rhett, and moved to stand beside him, looking up into his face. “Gettin’ massaged by a guy doesn’t mean you’re gay, Rhett. Shit, my masseuse is a man, but you don’t see me suckin’ dick, do you?”

Rhett laughed involuntarily, both at the joke he was about to make and to cover up his nerves. “I certainly hope I don’t see you suckin’ dick,” he muttered. 

Link rolled his eyes again. “That’s not what I meant,” he started, then shook his head. “That’s not the point. Point is, it’s not gay. And even if it is, you think I’d care?” He opened his arms as if to say, _I’m the most accepting guy you know._ “It’s just about making you feel better. So you can, you know, do the job we get paid to do.”

Rhett looked into his eyes, searching once more, then shook his head, seeming to make his decision before he could convince himself otherwise again. “Alright, fine!” He looked away and brushed his hair out of his face. “But I’m not takin’ my pants off.” 

“Oh, come on! If you’re gonna do this, you gotta do it all the way.”

Rhett looked back at him like he was a crazy person. 

“You think I can massage your legs _through_ those jeans?” Link gestured at the skinny jeans Rhett was currently wearing. “They gotta come off. Keep your boxers on, I don’t care about that. But I gotta be able to get to your legs.” 

Rhett looked at the ceiling, as if searching for answers there, then shook his head again and stepped back, toward the ladder for the loft. “Fine. Okay. Whatever. Let’s do it.” 

Link ignored the way his pride swelled when Rhett gave in—as if he had won some kind of competition. 

“But I’m takin’ you up on your offer if this doesn’t work,” Rhett continued, as he started up the ladder. He tried to cover up a grunt of pain with a cough. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Link said, and offered him a cheeky smile. “We’ll see what you say when I’m done with you.” 

He waggled his eyebrows and laughed when Rhett muttered, “Oh, Lord,” under his breath. 

“Just lay on the bed and cover your waist down with the blanket, and call me when you’re done,” Link said. “And I’ll be up.” 

“Yep.” 

Rhett disappeared into the loft, and Link settled into his chair again, thinking back to his last massage, the way his masseuse had begun, and thinking of how he could relax Rhett enough to actually let this work. He looked up when Rhett let out a heart-clenching groan of pain he couldn’t cover up. Link had never gone through the back issues Rhett had, but he’d been with Rhett through all of his issues and felt like he could imagine how Rhett felt. 

Several more grunts and muffled groans later, Rhett called out, “Okay, come on,” and Link made his way up to the loft. 

One thing was for sure, his massage bed was not made for men as big as Rhett. The poor guy was hanging off the end from the bottom half of his calves. To top it off, he looked uncomfortable. Link could see the tension all through his back and was sure that at least some of it was from the idea of his best friend touching him. 

“You okay?” he asked, as he turned on the essential oil diffuser in the corner. 

“Seriously? That thing, too?” Rhett asked, and Link could almost hear the eye roll.

“You gotta get the whole experience, man!” Link laughed and reached below the bed to retrieve a bottle of heating massage oil. “Now answer the question: you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rhett mumbled, and said no more. 

Link watched him carefully for another moment to make sure he wasn’t about to back out, then poured some oil into his palm and spread it across both hands. He rubbed them together to make sure they weren’t cold, then gently laid both hands over Rhett’s shoulder blades. 

Rhett jolted slightly at the first touch, obviously not having been expecting it, but when he accepted the feeling he relaxed slightly. Link started off easy, just sliding his hands over the length of his friend’s back to distribute the oil and get the warming component started, and noticed the way Rhett hummed when it began. 

“Is that that fancy oil you got? That heats up, and stuff?” 

Link smiled. “Sure is. Nice, right?”

“Yeah. Nice.”

As Rhett began to relax, Link’s hands became a little firmer. He started high, knowing that much of Rhett’s pain was in his lower back and wanting to work him up to that. He worked out every knot he came across, sure to go as slowly as he needed to in order to keep from overwhelming Rhett. 

Sure enough, about fifteen minutes in, Rhett had all but melted into the bed and was breathing deeply, like putty in Link’s hands. Link kept any smart remarks that came to mind to himself, saving them for later.

As Link’s hands slid lower, towards the problem area, he felt Rhett tense up again in anticipation of pain. Link made sure to keep his hands gentle and slow as he went in. When he pressed a little harder to try and relieve some tension, he was constantly aware of Rhett’s reactions. If Rhett’s breath hitched, Link backed off. If the tension increased, he moved on for the time being. 

It took about ten minutes to get through that section of Rhett’s back, and by the end Link felt some weird tension in his own belly. He ignored the feeling, unsure of what it was and unwilling to explore it and find out. Maybe it was the feeling of control that was encouraged by the way Rhett was trusting him, relaxing beneath him. Maybe it was the miles of skin beneath him, skin he wasn’t usually allowed to touch in this way. 

“Okay, I’m gonna do your legs now,” he said, instantly throwing those thoughts to the back of his mind. Where did they even come from, anyway? He hadn’t thought that way in— _Nope, stop. Focus on the task at hand, Neal._ “I’m gonna take the blanket off.”

Rhett nodded. “Okay.” 

Link started at the bottom, pulling the blanket off and exposing Rhett’s legs inch by inch. He definitely didn’t stare at his ass, covered only by his plaid boxers. He neatly folded the blanket once it was off and set it aside, then turned back and poured more oil over his hands. 

This time he started low, on Rhett’s left calf. It didn’t take long to work through those knots, and he moved to the other calf, giving it the same treatment. After that one was done, he moved down to his foot. Rhett jumped, pulling the foot out of his grasp with a laugh. “Ah! Seriously, man? M’ticklish!” 

Link laughed with him, grateful for the tension suddenly breaking. His head felt clearer as he said with a chuckle, “I’ll be gentle. Don’t do that again, you’ll screw up all the hard work I did on your back.” He reached for Rhett’s foot again and kept his movements slow, hoping that if Rhett could anticipate the touches they’d be fine. Indeed, he finished both feet in just a few minutes, then went back to his calves. 

He paused for just a second, then decided to try the move he had initially thought he wouldn’t attempt. It was one of his favorite things his own masseuse did, but he wasn’t sure if Rhett would be up for it. Better to try it than not, though, right? _Right_ , he told himself. 

He gripped Rhett’s left ankle and slowly began to bend his knee, stretching his quadricep. Rhett grunted slightly in surprise but didn’t protest. While his knee was bent, Link rubbed the muscles surrounding his knee and the front of his leg. Another moment passed, then he raised his leg even farther, lifting his thigh slowly off the bed as well to flex his hip muscles. Link knew Rhett held a lot of tension in his hips—he certainly complained about it enough. 

Rhett let out an involuntary groan, but again didn’t complain. Link extended his leg so that it lay flat over his own shoulder, which spread Rhett’s legs just slightly, and when he looked down to make sure he wasn’t incurring any tension he realized he had quite the view up the baggy leg of Rhett’s boxers. His eyes widened and he looked away immediately, but the sight was already making its impact; his head spun as all the blood left it and flowed south. Link tried to keep his movements slow so as not to betray that anything was wrong as he placed Rhett’s leg back on the table. He took a moment, biting his lip as he adjusted his jeans to accommodate for the new tightness within, then moved around the table to repeat the move on Rhett’s other leg. 

This was different, now. These were thoughts he hadn’t entertained since college. He’d thought he’d put that all to bed, kept it locked up so tightly he wouldn’t even talk to his therapist about it, but here he was, hard as all get out as he massaged his mostly-naked best friend. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn’t these feelings just stay buried like he wanted?

He was so distracted by those tumultuous thoughts that he hadn’t even realized he had gone through the motions for Rhett’s other leg, and it was time to move on. He shook his head to clear it, then poured a little more oil onto his hands. If he hadn’t been practicing so much self-control at the moment, the first touch on Rhett’s hamstrings would have made him groan. 

They were firm, lean and long beneath his fingers, and he had to consciously think about the task at hand to keep from thinking about having them wrapped around his own hips. He started on Rhett’s right thigh, thumbs rubbing gentle circles as he worked out the knots, and made sure to center attention around his knee once again.

It didn’t take long for him to repeat the treatment on Rhett’s other leg, then he placed a hand on the outsides of Rhett’s thighs and worked on those muscles. Every time he went down and back up, he moved a little higher, until his fingertips were grazing the bottoms of Rhett’s boxers. 

“I’m gonna get your hips real quick,” he said, breaking the silence. His hands began to slide beneath Rhett’s boxers, staying only on his hips. “Is this… okay?” 

Rhett took several seconds to respond, and cleared his throat before he did. “Uh… yeah. It’s fine.” 

Link nodded, breathing in slowly through his nose to control his breathing. Why was he losing it _now?_ His fingers moved slowly as they worked through the tension he found there, and there was a lot. His thumbs moved dangerously close to Rhett’s glutes, and his fingertips dipped maybe a little too far around the front of his hips. He swore he heard Rhett’s breath hitch, but he couldn’t say for sure. He also swore he was feeling some of the bagginess around his hands tighten up, but again; he couldn’t say for sure.

All the knots were gone far too soon, and Link removed his hands regretfully. “Okay,” he said softly, and cleared his throat. He adjusted his pants again, discreetly, trying to make sure that if Rhett sat up suddenly he wouldn’t realize he had a raging boner. “You’re done. Just, uh… wait a few minutes before you get up. And get up slowly. I’ll be downstairs.” He laid one hand, partingly, on the middle of Rhett’s back before turning and heading for the ladder. 

Rhett stayed silent, and Link couldn’t tell whether that was devastating or not. He descended the ladder and took a deep breath once he returned to the main floor of their office. He sat in his office chair and tucked in as close as he could to hide the tent in his pants. The office was deadly quiet as Rhett redressed and came down, but the grunts and groans were gone. 

Once he had settled in his chair as well, Link spoke. “So,” he said, “feeling any better?”

“Yeah,” Rhett confessed, “a lot better. It was great. Thanks a lot, buddy.” 

“Yeah,” Link replied, voice slightly tight. “No problem, man. Anytime.”


End file.
